Container comprising an inner lining, a method of applying such a lining to a container and use of a peel-able coating as an inner lining in a container

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a container ( 1 ) for holding fluid or particle compositions which container ( 1 ) comprises an inner lining ( 6 ) applied to an inner side ( 2 ) of the container ( 1 ), where the container ( 1 ) is provided with an inner lining ( 6 ) of a peel-able coating. The peel-able coating can be applied as water based, as Acetone based emulsion or as UV curable lacquer. The invention relates further to a method of manufacturing such a container ( 1 ), where the lining ( 6 ) is applied to the container ( 1 ) by following process steps:—Applying a peel-able coating to the inner side of the container ( 1 ):—Curing and/or drying the peel-able coating by heating, blowing or radiating by UV-light. Further the invention relates to the use of a peel-able coating as an inner lining ( 6 ) in a container ( 1 ) for fluid materials, such as paint or other materials able to leave residues on or in the container.

The invention relates to a container for holding fluid or particlecompositions, which container comprises an inner lining applied to aninner side of the container.

The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a container forholding fluid or particle compositions, which container comprises aninner lining applied to an inner side of the container.

The invention further relates to the use of a peel-able coating as aninner lining in a container for fluid or particle materials.

In several years containers i.e. for containing paint have been thrownaway after use.

As more and more of the materials kept or stored in such containers arecategorised as being possibly damaging the environment, the containersmust not be thrown away in normal waste management.

It is therefore desirable to make it possible to separate remainingcontent from the container itself.

Only the residue needs to be disposed of as dangerous goods. Thecontainer can be recycled i.e. as plastic scrap.

It is known to produce containers with a kind of lining where it ispossible to remove the lining after use and thereby achieve a cleancontainer without any hardened or fluent materials remaining on theinner side of the container.

Such a solution is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,398 B where a paintcontainer liner system is described. The paint container liner systemincludes disposable liners and an open container for receiving at leastone of the disposable liners. The liners are sized and configured to fitinto the inside of the container and around the rim of the container.The liners are maintained in position in the container by a suctiongenerated during installation, by a non curing adhesive interposedbetween the finer and the container, by the liners being stretchedaround the rim of the container or configured with a rounded bottom toretain the liner in place during use.

From U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,242 A is known that paint buckets and othersales packaging for paints, solvents and the like must be cleaned fromcontamination by residual amounts of the previous content before areuse. Such a container is provided with protective layers which areapplied to its container walls in several layers, which protectivelayers are separated by separating layers and which protective layers,starting from a detaching point, can be pulled off together withadhering contaminations so that the container can be reused againwithout any cleaning expenditures.

A problem with these known containers with liners is that when paint issold it is most often stored at the shop in a basis colour and intendedto be mixed into a colour selected by a costumer.

When a colour is selected and a necessary amount of colour pigment isapplied, the container is exposed to an excessive shaking in a shakingmachine. When exposing a container relating to prior art to such anexcessive shaking, it is very likely that the protective layer(s) willdetach from the inner side of the container.

When the customer at a later time is going to use the paint it isnecessary to perform a mixing or stirring to make sure that the colouris fully blended and thereby has obtained the correct colour.

If the protective layer has been detached from the inner side of thecontainer, it is very difficult to perform a sufficient mixing of thepaint.

New Technique

A solution to this problem is to provide a protective layer, easy toapply to the container and easy to remove from the container after use,which layer will not detach during excessive shaking of the container.

This is achieved according to the invention in that the container isprovided with an inner lining of a peel-able coating.

An advantage achieved by applying such a protective peel-able coating orlayer to a container is that when the container is emptied residues arenormally remaining on the inner side of such a container. By applyingthe protective peel-able layer to the inner side of the container beforefilling, it is possible to remove the protective layer in one piececovering the inner side of the container, the piece now forming a kindof bag being able to enclose the residues. When the protective layer isremoved from the container, the residues together with the peel-ableprotective layer can be disposed of as dangerous goods if necessary, andthe container can be used again or recycled i.e. as plastic scrap.

It is important that the peel-able layer does not disintegrate whenpeeled off, the container thereby being able to contain the residuesleft on the inner side of the layer.

The peel-able layer can he removed by hand or by a suitable tool, thetool being operated by hand or automatically.

The tool can be a removable tap placed on the upper edge of thecontainer.

In further embodiments the peel-able coating is applied as water basedor Acetone based emulsion.

In another embodiment the coating is cured by UV light.

In yet further embodiments the peel-able coating is applied as waterbased (e.g. Acrylic), Acetone (e.g. PVC) based emulsion or as a UVcurable lacquer.

In another embodiment according to the invention the thickness of thelining is in the range from 50-400 μm, alternatively 50-300 μm.

Hereby it is achieved that it is possible to stack the containers afterapplying the inner lining without significantly increasing the stackingheight.

To ensure a sufficient adherence to the container whether the containeris just ready from the mould or if it is a previously produced“standard” container originally intended for a completely other purposeor even if the container is a used container, the container is providedin a further embodiment with a roughened surface on the inner side ofthe container.

In yet an embodiment the roughened surface is applied only on the sideof the container and not to the bottom.

A solution to the above problem is also achieved by a method where thelining is applied to the container by following process steps:

-   -   Applying a peel-able coating to the inner side of the container;    -   Curing and/or drying the peel-able coating by heating, blowing        or radiating by UV-light.

In another embodiment the inner side of the container is roughened byblasting from particles.

In other embodiments of the method the peel-able coating is applied byspraying, by a roller or by spinning or rotating the container.

In further an embodiment the inner side of the container is roughened byblasting of sand or glass particles or by corona or flame treatment.

In another embodiment the lining is applied directly after the containeris moulded.

This gives the possibility to apply the lining when the position of thecontainer is well determined and unnecessary movement is reduced.

In yet an embodiment the lining is applied to a container being apreviously produced container.

In further an embodiment the containers are stacked shortly afterapplying the inner lining.

This reduces intermediate storing space and unnecessary movement of thecontainers.

A solution of the problem is also achieved by the use of a peel-ablecoating as an inner lining in a container for fluid or particlematerials, such as paint or other materials able to leave residues on orin the container.

In a further embodiment the peel-able coating or layer also is appliedaround the upper edge of the container and to the outside of a roundgoing skirt extending downwards from the upper end of the outside of thecontainer.

Embodiments will now be discussed in further detail with reference tothe accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows a container being provided with a protectivelayer, and

FIG. 2 schematically shows a container with a left side cut away and aright side provided with a lid.

The drawing in principle shows how a container 1 is provided with aprotective layer 6 according to an embodiment of the invention. Theinvention is not limited to a single embodiment, but comprises furtherembodiments derived from the specification.

These objectives can be achieved by applying a peel-able film or layer 6on the inside surface 2 of a container 1, The film or layer 6 is appliedto the container 1 before filling with paint or other fluids. When thecontainer 1 is emptied from paint or other fluids, it is possible toremove the residue by peeling off the film or layer 6. When peeled, thefilm or layer 6 turns into a bag containing the paint or other fluidresidue and thus leaving the container 1 clean from paint or otherfluid.

A peel-able coating shows remarkably good properties to be used incombination with such a container 1, which is mostly produced in a kindof plastics.

In an embodiment of the invention the peel-able coating is applied aswater based or Acetone based emulsion.

In another embodiment the coating is cured by UV light.

In yet further embodiments the peel-able coating is applied as waterbased (e.g. Acrylic) or Acetone (e.g. PVC) based emulsion or as a UVcurable lacquer.

These are commercially available products, but intended for completelyother applications.

Once applied, the peel-able coating dries into a solid film or layer 6and after curing the surface is resistant to paint.

To speed up the drying process, curing can be provided by drying and/orheating by blowing a gas, such as air, at a temperature selectedaccording to the desired curing time into the container.

Curing can also be provided by radiation from one or more UV lightsources.

To ensure in an embodiment a further adherence to the container whetherthe container 1 is just ready from the mould or if it is a previouslyproduced “standard” container originally intended for a completely otherpurpose or even if the container 1 is a used container, the container 1is provided in a further embodiment with a roughened surface on theinner side 2 of the container 1. The roughened surface on the inner side2 of the container 1 is provided by particle blasting or by corona orflame treatment.

Suitable particles for the blasting are sand or glass particles, butother small hard particles can be used as well as long as they aresuitable for roughening the surface of the container.

The peel-able coating or layer will then have a sufficient weakadherence to the plastic container to be peeled off after use but anadherence strong enough to stay in place during filling, transport andtinting/shaking.

When the peel-able coating is applied, which application can beperformed by spraying, rolling, by pouring a sufficient amount ofpeel-able coating into the container and following spin or rotate thecontainer in such a way, that the peel-able coating will be applied toall over the inner side of the container. How long the spinning orrotating period should be, depends on the temperature and on the desiredthickness of the protective layer.

FIG. 1 shows a simple way to apply the peel-able coating by a nozzle 4at a supply tube 3, which nozzle 4 produces a spray 5 and therebyapplies a protective film or layer 6 in form of a lining on the innerside 2 of the container 1.

When the peel-able coating is applied, a curing of the applied layer canbe performed.

Again the curing period depends on other parameters as well as on thecuring method.

The protective and peel-able layer protects the container from paint orlike fluids or particle materials to residue on the inner side of thecontainer.

Applying such a layer to the container makes it possible to produce thecontainer from a less expensive material. The protective layer also canprovide barrier means preventing compositions aggressive to the materialused for the container to come into contact with the container wall. Anexample can be protection of the container to solvent based liquids.

A further advantage to the invention is that the layer applied to thecontainer is a relatively thin layer. Normally the thickness of thelayer will be in the range from 50-400 μm, alternatively 50-300 μm.

Having such a thin layer makes it possible to stack the containers.

Hereby is achieved an adherence to the plastic surface weak enough toallow easy removal of the film or layer and a film or layer itselfstrong enough to stay in one piece when removed from the container,acting as a bag containing the paint residue.

In another embodiment the lining is applied directly after the containeris moulded.

This makes it possible to apply the lining when the position of thecontainer is well determined and unnecessary movement is reduced.

In yet an embodiment the lining is applied to container being apreviously produced container, giving the possibility to make use ofother containers or even previously used containers.

In further an embodiment the containers are stacked shortly afterapplying the inner lining which also reduces unnecessary movement orhandling of the containers.

In a further embodiment the peel-able coating 6, 9 also is appliedaround the upper edge 7 of the container 1 and to the outside of a roundgoing skirt 8 extending downwards from the upper end of the outside ofthe container 1.

The upper edge of the container 1 is on the outside provided with a beador ridge 7 intended to snap into a corresponding groove in a lid, whichlid (not shown) when applied will abut an upper shoulder 11 of the roundgoing skirt 8.

The peel-able coating 6, 9 applied to the area around the bead or ridge7 provide a further sealing between the container 1 and the lid comparedto a situation where no peel-able coating is applied.

When the peel-able coating 6, 9 is applied to the inner side of thecontainer and as well on the outside of the upper edge 7 it is possibleto avoid contamination by residual amounts of the previous contentbefore a reuse of the container 1.

To make it easier to remove (peel oft) the peel-able layer a removabletap 10 is provided in the round going skirt 8. The removable tap 10 isin a transition area between the body or middle portion of the tap 10and the round going skirt 8 provided with a weakening line or a numberof connection points 12 to be broken when tearing off the removable tap10.

When tearing off the removable tap 10, the peel-able layer 6, 9 attachedto the tap 10 will detach from the round going skirt 8 and from theinner side 2 of the container 1. Hereby it is possible to remove thepeel-able layer 6, 9 in an easy and effective manner without tearing thepeel-able layer 6, 9 apart and thereby be sure that the residues frompaint or the like is held inside the kind of bag provided by the peeledoff peel-able layer.

The peel-able layer 6, 9 can be applied around the upper edge of thecontainer 1 by spraying or by a roller. The container can be fixed in atemplate which abuts the underside of the round going skirt 8,preventing the peel-able layer from being applied to the rest of theouter side of the container 1.

The container 1 can be held in a not rotating position or it can berotated during applying the peel-able coating 6. 9.

In a further embodiment of the container 1, the outer side of the roundgoing skirt 8 can be provided with a roughened surface.

In the above the container is mainly described as a container forcontaining paint, but it is obvious that it is possible to use theinvention in relation to other materials able to leave residues on or inthe container.

The invention also applies to the use of a peel-able coating as an innerlining in a container for fluid or particle materials, such as paint orother materials able to leave residues on or in the container.

The invention is not limited to the use of the mentioned peel-ablecoating since any suitable peel-able coatings can be used as long asthey fulfil the properties described herein.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A container for holding fluid or particlecompositions, which container comprises an inner lining in the form of apeelable coating applied to an inner side of the container, wherein thepeelable coating is applied as a UV curable lacquer.
 23. The containeraccording to claim 22, wherein a thickness of the inner lining is in arange from 50-400 μm.
 24. The container according to claim 22, whereinthe inner side of the container comprises a roughened surface.
 25. Thecontainer according to claim 22, wherein the peelable coating is alsoapplied around an upper edge of the container and to an outside of around-going skirt extending downwardly from an upper end of the outsideof the container.
 26. The container according to claim 25, wherein thepeelable coating is not applied to a remainder of the outer side of thecontainer.
 27. The container according to claim 25, wherein the outerside of the round-going skirt comprises a roughened surface.
 28. Amethod of manufacturing a container for holding fluid or particlecompositions, which container comprises an inner lining applied to aninner side of the container, wherein the inner lining is applied to thecontainer by the following process steps: applying a peelable coating tothe inner side of he container in the form of a UV curable lacquer;curing the peelable coating by radiating with UV-light.
 29. The methodaccording to claim 28, wherein the peelable coating is also appliedaround an upper edge of the container and to an outside of a round-goingskirt extending downwardly from an upper end of the outside of thecontainer.
 30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the peelablecoating is not applied to a remainder of the outer side of thecontainer.
 31. The method according to claim 29, wherein the inner sideof the container and/or the upper edge of the container and/or theoutside of the round-going skirt extending downwardly from the upper endof the outside of the container is/are roughened by blasting fromparticles.
 32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the inner sideof the container and/or the upper edge of the container and/or theoutside of the round-going skirt extending downwardly from the upper endof the outside of the container is/are roughened by blasting of sand orglass particles or by corona or flame treatment.
 33. The methodaccording to claim 29, wherein the container is fixed in a templatewhich abuts the underside of the round-going skirt, thereby preventingthe peelable coating from being applied to a remainder of the outer sideof the container.
 34. The method according to claim 29, wherein thepeelable coating is applied by spraying.
 35. The method according toclaim 29, wherein the peelable coating is applied by a roller.
 36. Themethod according to claim 29, wherein the peelable coating is applied byspinning or rotating the container.
 37. The method according to claim29, wherein the peelable coating is applied directly after the containeris moulded.
 38. The method according to claim 29, wherein the peelablecoating is applied to a previously produced container.
 39. The method ofmanufacturing containers where containers manufactured according tomethod claim 29 are stacked shortly after applying the peelable coating.